How we inform and consult with you on improvements

We inform residents near an affected location before making improvements that will result in a minor change of traffic patterns.

When planning more substantial traffic changes, we engage with nearby residents and businesses on potential improvements. This ensures cycling safety and comfort are balanced with the needs of residents and businesses.

Current improvements

Alexander Street Bikeway

We're planning to improve Alexander Street to make it safer and more comfortable for cyclists of all ages and abilities.

We're improving the intersection and bikeway to be more accessible and safe for people walking and cycling. Four options were presented at a public open house in May 2015. The miniparks
option is the recommended design.

Example cycling improvements

Green paint

In North America, green is the standard colour for cycling facilities.

Skid-resistant green paint is used to identify potential conflicts with vehicles such as street and driveway crossings. Watch for turning, crossing, or merging motor vehicles.

Locations include:

E 10th Ave at Clark Dr

Melville St at Thurlow St and W Pender St

Pacific St at Cambie St, Davie St, and Homer St

Surface quality improvements

Abrupt edges, rough pavement, and potholes are dangerous for cyclists.

The City is increasingly using thin-lift overlays, a thin layer of asphalt spread over an existing asphalt surface to affordably extend the durability of bikeway road surfaces that have lower car traffic and wear-and-tear.

Locations include:

Adanac St between Nanaimo St and Garden Drive (under consideration)

Stop sign reorientation/modification

On bikeways throughout Vancouver, most stop signs have been reoriented to make cycling more convenient and safer by giving traffic on the bicycle route the right-of-way. In other locations, stop signs have been replaced with traffic circles.

Crossing intersections becomes easier and safer as people cycling no longer have to accelerate into crossing traffic from a standstill.

In some locations, intersections will be converted from four-way to two-way stops to further increase cycling safety and convenience.

Locations include:

E 10th Ave at Quebec St and Pine St

W 8th Ave at Stephens St, Bayswater St, and Collingwood St

Traffic calming

We will continue to add traffic calming measures to bicycle routes to make them safer and more comfortable for all road users.

Measures may include:

Speed humps

Raised crossings

Curb bulges

Traffic circles

Traffic diversion

Cycling is most comfortable for people of all ages and abilities on routes where interactions with motor vehicles are limited. UBC studies confirm that people who are new to cycling prefer:

Off-street pathways (such as the Seawall)

Protected bike lanes (like Hornby and Dunsmuir Streets)

Low-traffic local streets (Ontario and Adanac Streets)

On local street bike routes, we strive to keep traffic volumes below 1,000 vehicles per day. On bikeways with higher vehicle volumes, we consider ways of reducing and diverting traffic while still providing access, using measures such as:

One-way streets

Medians

Street closures

Diagonal diverters

Locations include:

Union St at Clark Dr

Cypress St at 19th Ave

Ontario St at 41st Ave

In certain locations where traffic is high, we also consider ways of physically separating bicycle traffic from motor vehicle traffic.

Other safety measures

We receive data from ICBC on a continuing basis about where motorist-cyclist collisions occur most frequently.

We are also performing a cycling safety study to determine how factors such as weather, time of day, or opening car doors into traffic affect cycling safety in Vancouver. Until the study is complete, we will continue to review the specific collision patterns in locations with with frequent collisions, and implement safety measures on a case-by-case basis.